Lady Hawks travel softball teams enjoying strong stretch

The Lady Hawks 10U and high school teams, of the West Orange Girls Club in Ocoee, have three recent tournament championships between them.

The Lady Hawks travel softball 10U and high-school teams, playing out of the West Orange Girls Club in Ocoee, have had some impressive success in the last few weeks.

First, both teams won their respective championships April 22 in the NSA Spring Travel Ball League Double Elimination Tournament. Held at the West Orange Girls Club, the tournaments saw the two teams best the competition in their respective fields, each going 5-0 during the two-day event.

Matt Friedman, one of the coaches of the Lady Hawks 10U team, credited the success of the three Lady Hawks teams — there is also a 12U team — to cohesion and a dedication to fundamentals.

“(The girls) just want to come together and play softball, and that’s one of the things I think that has made these girls very successful,” Friedman said. “Every time we go out there, we want our girls to compete and play the game the right way. And that’s what they’re doing.”

The 10U team followed its success in April with another tournament championship last weekend by winning the NSA Cinco de Mayo Tournament, again held at the West Orange Girls Club. The high-school team finished as runner-up in its bracket.

Not only have the girls had success on the field as respective teams, but also a camaraderie exists across age groups to where the older girls on the high-school team mentor the girls on the 12U and 10U teams.

“Some of the high-school girls come and practice with us, as coaches, so our girls have people to look up to,” Friedman said. “They look up to these girls as big sisters.”

Steven Ryzewski is the Senior Sports Editor for ObserverPreps.com, as well as all three of Observer Media Group's print publications in Orange County. He is a graduate of the University of Central Florida....